The Lie and The Reason
by Ludi Sen
Summary: A Gryffindor. The brightest witch of her age. Hermione Granger is many things, but not everyone's perceptions about her are true. She has a hidden secret, a lie which is her past, present, future; a lie which even she does not know the extent of. So when the lie's found out, and her image crumbles away, what's left? Who can she rely on? But more importantly ... what is The Reason?
1. The Daily Prophet

_A/N: I do not own anything except the storyline. Everything else is owned by J.K. Rowling _

_A stream of sunlit dust floats through the rafters. A slim girl ducks to avoid a cottony cobweb as she walks towards a cloaked object which sits on its own, in a damp dusky corner, hiding. A childish hand reaches forward and pulls a sheet off of the shape. An open safe. Even though she knew she shouldn't, the girls curiosity gets the better of her, and she retrieves the objects inside. She opens a folder. "No," she breathes, disbelieving as hate, betrayal, and despair grip her body..._

Hermione jerked into consciousness, a thin sweat shining on her skin. She held her stomach as a feeling of intense nausea clutched her insides, waiting for it to pass. The sounds of the sleeping girls surrounding her and the dawn light created a feeling of utter peace. If only the nightmares would leave her. She took some random clothes from her trunk, and went into the bathroom.

* * *

"Alright Hermione?" Parvati yawned. "You look tired."

"Yeah, didn't sleep very well last night. You?" Parvati muttered something unintelligible as she makes her way to the bathroom. "Take that as a yes." Hermione picked her bag up off of her bed and briskly walks out of the 6th year girls dormitory. As she left, she whispered one incantation: "_Industria_."

* * *

The castle corridors were deserted in the early Saturday morning light. Coloured lights from stained glass windows danced on the portraits, disturbing the irritable occupants. An echo of a changing staircase. Dust moats in the air sparkled; an unearthly light enveloped the place of joy. Hermione dawdled through the corridors and down the stairs to the Great Hall, whispering words of greeting to the few early morning risers. She smiled at Dumbledore and sat down, opening the latest issue of The Daily Prophet.

"Hi Hermione," said a dreamy voice.

"Hey Luna, are you okay? You're up unusually early." Hermione's eyes didn't move from the paper. "Yes, I'm fine thank you. Daddy says it's easier to see the Nargles, they like early Saturday mornings, you know."

"Ummm...yes, of course."

Hermione didn't think much of Luna's father, Xenophilias Lovegood, he always seemed to be spouting all sorts of stupid ideas, and that magazine of his is a load of utter rubbish. However, she would never tell the unusual girl of her opinion.

"Alright 'Mione? Luna?" Ron and Harry walked up to the table and sit down. Hermione nods, a frown appearing on her face. "Luna?" Asked Ron again.

"Nargles..." She walked away.

"Nutter, that one," said Ron, helping himself to bacon, scrambled egg, and toast. "Have you heard this!" Exclaimed Hermione, slamming The Daily Prophet down onto the table. "'_Harry Potter – Unstable Stalker? Recent investigations show that the infamous Harry Potter, brainwashed apprentice of Dumbledore, the Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, may suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "The poor boys farcical accusations that He-who-must-not-be-named is back, could very well be the result of the trauma of the death of his parents at such a young age." Says psychologist Henry Marsh, form St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Inside sources say that young Potter's friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, are becoming ever distant from him as his mental stability decreases. In fact, it has been reported that despite her requests for him to leave her alone, Potter has been stalking Hermione Granger, a girl who is well known for her taste for famous young wizards. So the question is: how long until Harry Potter's debilitating state cracks?_'"

The three friends glance at each other wearily. "Well?" Hermione demanded. "What do you think?" Harry and Ron merely shrugged, looking down at their full plates. "Harry?"

"What?" His green eyes flicked up to hers.

"Well what are you going to do? You can't let them get away with this!" Daggers are sent Hermione's way as a group of disgruntled studying Ravenclaw's are disturbed. Ron looks sympathetically at his best friend. "RONALD! Can you stop eating for one minute! Your best friend has been accused of having a severe mental illness, and you're just eating bacon!" Hermione knocks the loaded fork out of Ron's hand.

"What's wrong Mudblood? Can't get Potter to leave you alone? Mind, he probably can't get away from you, what with you being so fat."

Ron abruptly stood up. "Piss off, Malfoy."

"I could say the same to you, blood traitor." The blonde spits the last words out. He steps forward, as if to carry on, but grasps his left arm. He turns, and strides out of the hall. Unsure of what to do, Crabbe and Goyle laugh; they turn and walk to the Slytherin table so they can stuff their faces with food.

"I _told_ you," Harry sat up excitedly. "Come on, you can't deny that. He touched it and left-"

"Harry. For the last time, Malfoy is not a Death Eater. Come on, let's go to Hogsmeade." Hermione stood up and slung her satchel over her shoulder, marking the end of the conversation. Ron looked dejectedly at the food on the table. "But Hermione, I'm not finished." Sighing, Hermione cut two rolls in half, buttered them, and handed them to Ron, motioning for him to stand.

In the light of the morning, the three friends stroll out under the arch of the Great Hall into the courtyard.


	2. Hogsmeade

_A/N: I do not own anything except the storyline, everything else is the work of the wonderful and amazing J.K. Rowling._

"Merlin's beard!" A pair of red eyebrows rose up as an excited whisper escaped Ron's mouth. "HARRY! HARRY!"

"What Ron!" A head of shaggy black hair appeared.

"Look, look … chocolate snitches." Ron opened his curled hand, revealing a chocolate snitch. Wings started moving, and soon the snitch was an almost invisible blur whizzing around Honeyduke's. "Whoa!" Dean Thomas ducked as something flew towards his head. "What the hell was that?"

"Sorry Dean, chocolate snitch."

"It's all right Harry- wait, what?" Dean stared wide eyed at Harry. "Chocolate what?"

Harry smiled. "Chocolate snitch." Dean stumbled his way over to Harry, pushing through people, all the time yelling: "Seamus! Seamus! Get your butt over here. Chocolate snitch!" Seamus' head popped out from a display of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans; as he pushed through the crowd of people, the legend of the chocolate snitch spread, and soon there was a mob around the stand.

Hermione opened the door to Honeyduke's to have to immediately jerk backwards. "Oh, hey Hermione. Isn't it great? A chocolate snitch!" Hermione rolled her eyes and stepped into the packed shop, the complete contrast of temperature from cold to warm making her shiver.

"Oh, yeah it's brilliant Ronald. Now you can combine your favourite two things: food and snitches. Not that you'll be able to do much more quidditch if you _keep on eating them! Do_ you even have the money to pay for all of those?" She questioned, not in a harsh manner, but an inquisitive. " Yeah, see I found some of Fred and George's Weasleys Wildfire Whiz-bangs, see, and well, I kind of..." He looked uneasily at Hermione. "You kind of what, Ron?" She pressed, not sounding unlike his mother.

"Well, I kind of sold them to Seamus." An expression of pure exasperation settled on the petite girls face. "Your not mad at me, are you Hermione?" Ron asked, earnest.

"I'm not even going to dignify that question with an answer."

Hermione stood on her tip-toes to see over the crowd of heads. "SEAMUS, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!" She yelled over the great mass of heads. Ron jumped as Seamus materialised next to him.

"Hi Hermione."

"Seamus, how much did you pay for those fireworks Ronald sold to you?" Seamus looked over warily to Ron who was frantically shaking his head. Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. Seamus, noticing her mood finally spoke up. "Five Galleons." Hermione's eyes widened. "RONALD! I'm sorry Seamus, but why? They only cost nine sickles and twenty-four knuts if you get them from Fred and George." She cast a menacing look at the red head next to her.

"I know Hermione, but when I went there they were completely sold out. I only paid that 'cause they're on demand. Besides, I'm Seamus Finnegan – what am I supposed to do without them?" Hermione smiled, reminiscing about every single school year where something had exploded in Seamus's face. "Fine," she sighed, and turned towards Ron. "But don't you dare think I won't keep this in mind when you do something else. I could easily accidentally tell Fred and George, or even your mother what you've done." Ron audibly swallowed. "Bye now," she smiled sweetly over her shoulder. Ron looked at her retreating form in awe.

_What a complete utter excuse for idiot, _Hermione thought. _Here we are, trying to defeat Voldemort, and he's doing stupid things like that! _

Hermione walked over to the corner of the shop where fudge was sold. She'd always liked fudge, and hadn't thought that there could ever be fudge better than that from the Isle of Wight, however, she had realised she was wrong when she first entered Honeyduke's. The fudge at Honeyduke's was better than that found anywhere else. It wasn't the way that it melted slowly in your mouth to form a smooth, creamy substance, it was an extra _something. _Nobody knew what that extra _something _was, but everyone knew that it couldn't be found anywhere else.

Hermione looked at the tray of tasters, pondering which type of fudge she wanted to try, like the old saying: try before you buy; she did this even though she knew Honeyduke's could never fail her. Hermione was about to give in to her cravings and put some clotted cream fudge in her mouth, when someone coughed behind her, in the very manner that the toad Delores Umbridge did.

"I wouldn't eat any more of that if _I _were you, mudblood. You're so fat already," a mass of giggling came from behind her. Hermione turned around, only to come face to face with Pansy Parkinson and her gang of like minded pug's. "If you're not careful mudblood, you won't be able to fit into Honeyduke's at all." More laughing.

"Yeah, because you'd know all about that, wouldn't you Parkinson?"

"Yeah, I would mudblood." Hermione smiled.

"So you agree with me?"

"What? No." Hermione laughed as a confused look took over Pansy's face.

"Yes, you are."

"What's going on here?" Hermione rolled her eyes as Ron arrived next to her. He always did this, trying to defend her, believing that she's incapable of looking after herself, when, in reality, she's better at looking after herself than Ron himself.

"Oh, and here comes the blood traitor, dumb as a doorknob, arriving to look after the mudblood-"

"Don't call her that." Ron said.

"Or what?"

"If you call her that, I'll curse you. I don't care if your a girl, or a spoilt pureblood." Pansy giggled quietly. "Mudblood."

"I'm warning you Pansy." He said. Pansy took a deep breath.

"Mudblood … Mudblood … Mudblood." A viscous quality took over the girls voice.

"That's it, I'm going to curse you so hard-" He stepped closer to Pansy, his hair as red as the fury his face wore. "Curse her with what, Weasel-bee? Your brain?" A tall blonde cut in. "_Malfoy._" Ron spat the name out of his mouth.

"Hi _mudblood_, finding things to eat, not that you need it." Malfoy's eyes travelled down and then up the girls body, making her feel like a piece of dirt on the bottom of his shoe. Ron drew his wand out of his jeans. Malfoy laughed, cold as ice.

"Ron! Leave it, mate." Harry pulled Ron away from the ice-boy.

"Ah, your boyfriends arrived, better leave you too it. Potter, Weasel-bee." He walked, and stopped in front of Hermione. "_Mudblood."_ The three friends heard the door ping, signalling their enemies exit. Pansy and her 'gang' rushed to follow him.

"Are you alright Hermione?"

"Yes, thank you Ronald. And thanks for your help, but I can handle myself." She replied shortly. "Are you sure Hermione? You didn't look like you were doing very well-"

"I was doing fine until you came! You don't seem to understand Ron – I can handle myself. I'M NOT YOU!" She stormed out of Honeyduke's. Harry and Ron turned towards each other as the delayed reaction of the bell on the door sounded.

"What did I say?"

***

Hermione wandered the streets of Hogsmeade in anger. She knew Ron was just trying to look out for her, but she could look after herself, and no matter how many times she told him, he wouldn't lay off. Now she knew how Ginny felt, surrounded by protective brothers that wouldn't leave her alone. Always puffed up against different people, defending her when she could defend herself. Although it was kind of nice as it showed he cared about her, but there's a point where you just make things worse when stepping in because it makes others think you're easy prey because you can't defend yourself. Thinking back though, she was a bit out of order.  
"Whoa!" Hermione apologised to the one person she wanted to see, who was, coincidentally the person she had just walked into. They held her at arms length, examining her miserable expression. Ginny pulled her into a bear hug. "What's my prat of a brother done now?" She asked sympathetically. Hermione mumbled inaudibly into Ginny's shoulder. Ginny frowned."What?"

"He's so damn overprotective – that's what. Ginny how do you cope?" Blue eyes looked meaningfully into Hermione's brown ones. "Three words: sleepover and shopping spree!" The red haired girl replied – her voice was deadly serious.

"Ginny."

"Yes?"

"That's four." Ginny hit Hermione lightly on the arm. And then proceeded to link that arm with hers. "So, where are the good places to shop?" Hermione asked. Ginny smiled mischievously: "not here..."


	3. These Three Words Part One

**A/N: Anything you recognise belongs to the wonderful J.K Rowling. Also sorry it's so late again, I've been stressing out over exams. Also if you feel like it review, so I know what needs to be improved – but nothing pointlessly mean! Also, the second part of this was going to be included, but it was over the maximum word limit. Thanks, Ludi Sen xxx.**

"Ginny! Where are we going? First you floo us to Diagon Alley, then you take me to the tube, and now … I don't even know where we are." Ginny had Hermione by the arm, pulling her along a busy London street. The two girls were surrounded by people. Most of these wore serious, black suits that had that look to them that suggested that they were dry cleaned after every wear. On either side of the street large buildings overshadowed the lives below, many of which were straight, linear, no sign of _living_ within them.  
Ginny pulled her friend out of the way of a homeless person trying desperately to sell her an issue of The Big Issue, and said: "Oh Hermione, Hermione, Hermione. Why do you refuse to trust me?"  
Hermione groaned, "Ginny, you know it's not that I don't trust you, 'cause I do, it's just-"  
"Ah, afraid to see the big bad world?" The red-head giggled.  
"No, but we're supposed to be in Hogsmeade. What if something happens? To Ron, or to Harry! No-one would find us and then we would feel guilty because we WEREN'T THERE! Especially considering the state of danger the world is currently in. We should know this better than anyone else." A curt looking woman turned to look at Hermione in disgust. She wore, guess what? A sharp black suit, and an expression as ugly as a blast ended skrewt. "Yes?" asked Hermione and then with a turn and a smack of her bag into the curly haired girl's stomach, the woman was gone.  
"Well, she had a lovely sized stick up her arse didn't she?"  
"Ginny!" Hermione scolded.  
"Well, she did!"  
"Yes, but there's no need to say it." Ginny took Hermione's hand, swinging it playfully as they walked.  
As soon as the regular commuters had disappeared off of the streets, the day turned quite pleasant. Warm sunlight shined over the streets, leaving a trail of blazing fire on Ginny's head. She closed her eyes for a second as she walked, savouring the tingling feeling of this rare occurrence on her skin. As soon as the majestic golden light had shown its face on the area, the dreary mood of every day London became summery and fun-loving. Teenagers flowed into the street dressed in skinny jeans and band tee's, laughing at the world around them. In parks, old couples sat together on benches, reminiscing about days which stretched far behind them. Ginny took her coat off, tying it around her waist as the sun heated her body. Hermione shivered. Ginny looked at her, surprised. "Hermione, did you just shiver?" Wide-eyed, Hermione replied, unconvincingly "No."  
"Yes you did. How can you be shivering, it's like, 15 degrees Celsius out here." Hermione pulled her coat further around her body. "I didn't shiver-" She let out a small cry as she doubled over, clutching her stomach in the hopes of protecting it from the shooting pain weaving through her ribcage, like ribbons on the skeletons used to celebrate the Day of the Dead in Mexico. "Hermione?" Ginny's face darkened with concern as the girl let out another cry. "Hermione, are you alright?" Hermione slowly straightened out, wiping a stray tear with the tip of her little finger. "Fine, I-I'm fine."  
"Don't lie, Hermione-"  
"I'm not lying!" Passers-by turned in alarm at her exclamation.  
"Hermione, you're obviously not fine. Come on, please tell me." Ginny said gently. Hermione shook, "I'm fine, it's nothing but embarrassing, really." Ginny looked imploringly at her friend. "Please tell me?" Big blue eyes looked into Hermione's. "Please Hermione, please-"  
"Oh fine! If you must know. Nothing's wrong, I just have period pains, that's all." She looked down in embarrassment. "Oh, that's all right then." Ginny's face sagged in relief. "I thought you were going to tell me you had some kind of life-threatening disease or something." _If only you knew..._  
"Hah! I wish..." Hermione trailed off. The two girls walked for a little while, until Ginny stopped. Hermione, not noticing, walked straight into the girls back. "Oww! Thanks for that loving head butting there Hermione, I _really_ appreciate it." Hermione tried to apologise. "Hey, save the grovelling until later, we're almost there." Ginny smiled broadly. "Wait a minute..." Hermione's eyes darted around their environment, taking in every minute detail, from the street names, to the buildings around them. She started as recognition flew through her. She turned around slowly. "Ginny, you didn't..."  
"Oxford Street!" Ginny squealed. _This is going to be a _very _long day..._

_***_  
"Okay, so we definitely need to go to Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Urban Outfitters, Schuh, New Look-"  
"Ginny?" Hermione looked dubiously at the red-head standing next to her.  
"Yes?"  
"Can we go to Waterstones?"

" What's Waterstones?"

"A book shop…" Ginny shook her head vigorously.  
"Oh no, you study all the time. It is time you took a break!"  
"Awww, come on, please?"  
"No Hermione. It's time you embraced your book hating, clothes loving inner self." Ginny said calmly. Hermione scoffed at this, she didn't like her outer self, let alone her inner self.  
For the rest of the journey, Hermione sulked, anxious about what Ginny was going to do. She'd never had an interest in clothes, and would rather wear something baggy and comfortable than something that would cling to her body. As you can imagine, Hermione was quite worried.  
"Oooh! Look Topshop!" Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her towards the shop. When they entered it, Hermione was overwhelmed by the smell of fresh clothes and floral perfume. All around her were girls that Molly Weasley would class as arty and frivolous. They wore dresses with sections cut out of the back, skirts with baggy jumpers, and skinny jeans with high heels and blazers. In her jeans, trainers, plain t-shirt, hoodie and big coat, she felt out of place and plain. Ginny looked more accustomed. Her straight red hair danced as she walked; Hermione could see other girls look at her in envy. Ginny's long legs were emphasised by the skinny jeans which clung to them. She wore her coat on her hips, and it brushed her pale blue t-shirt as she perused the clothes around her.

She picked up a t-shirt, a layer of fine black mesh (almost transparent) over a white under-layer; sparkling black beads arranged in floral patterns were sewn into it, and a vine flowed over the t-shirt where the small of the owner's back would be. Ginny looked at the price tag, shrugged and draped it over her arm. She continued to slowly look around the shop. For someone who belonged to a family that didn't have much money, she sure didn't care about buying expensive clothes.  
All the while they were at Oxford Street, Hermione traipsed around shops after Ginny, not caring for clothes. Her friend would hold clothes up to her and then either shove her into the changing rooms or put the object back on the rail in disgust. By the time they'd raided Topshop, Miss Selfridge, New Look and Accessorize, their arms were loaded down with bags. Apparently, Ginny had gotten money from Fred and George as a bribe for her not telling Mrs Weasley about something they had done. She'd then changed it all into muggle money as she was planning to go shopping anyway. Hermione's parents had put their money in a muggle bank, and had given her their credit card to use if she wanted to buy something. So she used it. Normally she wouldn't want to waste money on clothes she would never wear, but if it shut Ginny up then it was worth the waste – she really couldn't cope with her endless protesting, and if she didn't buy it, Ginny would for her, and that in itself would just make her feel guilty.  
"Ginny! Look Schuh! Ginny wait. Stop! I need to go in there!" Ginny stopped, turned around and gasped dramatically. "Do my ears deceive me? Hermione Granger wants to go shopping?" Hermione winced at this.  
"Yes. Hermione Granger wants to go shopping. Hermione Granger needs some new boots and would like those boots to be Dr Martins." Hermione replied with a rather posh, miffed accent. "Okay, let's go then."  
The two walked slowly into the shop, breathing in the smell of fresh leather – something which Hermione had not inhaled for years. She walked straight over to the section where the Doc Martin's were on show and immediately spotted a pair of black, shiny just above the ankle high boots. Her slender hands picked them up. "Hi, can I help you?" A tall guy around the age of seventeen loped towards her. He had slightly long brown hair, and there was a careless look to it, definitely different to Ron's bright red mop. "Ummm, yeah, can I have these in a size six?"

"Sure," he smiled and walked away.

Ginny walked over towards Hermione and elbowed her in the side. "He was cute."  
"Why don't you go out with him then?"  
"You know why." Ginny sighed. They both turned their heads when the guy walked back in. "Mmm-mmm-mm. Look at that butt."  
"Ginny!"  
"What? Come on Mione, loosen up a little." The petite girl audibly groaned.  
"Here you go." The shop assistant handed her the right shoe.  
"Thanks," Hermione took her trainer off and slid the boot over her foot. She then proceeded to do the same with the other foot. She stood up and looked at her feet in the mirror.

"So, been doing anything interesting?" The guy asked.  
"I'm just taking my dear friend Hermione shopping." Ginny linked arms with Hermione, holding her in place as she attempted going for a walk to see how the boots fit. "So I can see," he jokes. "Wait. Hold on, did you say Hermione? Hermione Granger by any chance?"

"Yes." Ginny looked at Hermione warily. The guy hit his hand to his forehead in shock. "I can't believe this. Hermione, it's Conner. We were friends in primary school." Hermione searched through countless memories. She'd pushed all of her early ones to do with primary school to the back of her head. She'd been tormented in her early years for being a 'teachers pet', or at least that's what all of the other people in her class called her. But that was always comforted by one boy, he'd been her best friend...

_Hermione felt hands on her back; before she knew it she was sprawled out on the floor, the books she had been holding splayed out in front of her. Children's laughter erupted around her. "Hah! Look at the teacher's pet! Teacher's pet. Teacher's pet. Teacher's pet..." The rest of the kids around her joined in, and soon they were chanting. Hermione picked herself up, tears running down her face splashed to the ground, pooling on the floor at her feet. "Hermione, is that you?" The crowd dispersed as her best friend, Conner jogged over. He bent down and helped her to pick up her precious books off of the floor. They both straightened up; he passed the books back to her. Conner wrapped his arms around her. Leading her to the first aid kit inside, he said: "Don't worry Mione. They won't be calling you that when you're really rich and famous..."_

"Conner? Lemonbell Primary. Right?" His eyes sparkled at Hermione voicing her recognition. "Yep. That's me." He flashed a cheeky smile. Hermione squealed. Ginny covered up her ears, gaping at the unexpected sound. "I swear I have never heard you go that high in my life." She stated.

"Trust me," Conner grinned, "she used to go higher. I swear I went deaf when she got a level seven on an English test." Hermione buried her head in her hands from embarrassment. "I can't believe you still remember that. Hell, I can't believe you remember me at all."  
"How could I not?" A sad smile crossed his face. Ginny suddenly experienced a fit of coughing. "So Conner, what do you think of Hermione's boots?" Hermione silently praised her red-headed friend for lightening the mood. "I like them, a lot. Although I think you'd like these ones a lot more." He held up the bright red version of the black boots she wore on her feet. "Yeah, but black blends in, and it goes with everything." She smiled. She hoped he would never ask why she needed boots that would blend in. "Knowing you, there's some sort of secret going on here." She shrugged and he pressed no further.  
Hermione took off the boots and placed them back in the box. "I'll take them." Conner took the box from Hermione, and led the two girls to the counter. "Hold on a sec. I just need to sort something out for a previous customer. He ran a pair of bright red size six Dr Martin's through the till and paid for them. He then bagged them up and put them under the counter. "Okay, because I love you so much, you get staff discount. Shhhh, don't tell anyone. So that comes to a total cost of £60. Jesus that's a lot of money. Someone must be rich." Hermione held up her parents credit card. "Ah, le gift of ze parents." He said with a French accent. "Here you go," he held the bag out to her. "My contact details are on the receipt, and just in case you forget, here's them on a piece of paper." He slid them into her hands.  
"It was really nice seeing you, Conner. I'll be in touch." The two friends, one with shocking red hair, and the other with long, curly brown hair, walked out of the door.  
As the two girls walked out of the door, Conner couldn't help but feel concerned for Hermione. As soon as he'd seen her he'd felt a flash of recognition rush through his body, but he couldn't quite place where it had come from. When he found out she had been Hermione, his Hermione, he couldn't help but smile. The happy memories of the two together in the playground flashed through his mind – a two second story of his life. She seemed pleased to see him, he thought. But something wasn't quite right. There was something under the surface, when it came to Hermione, recognising her face value wasn't enough. He'd seen the pain that he had witnessed so many times in others reflected in her eyes. To him, she didn't look okay. She looked tired. Scared. Guilty. She looked like she'd given up. She looked ill.  
As he passed his contact details onto her, he looked into her eyes, trying to wheedle something, even a tiny piece of information out of her. This would have been successful if she had not shamefacedly smiled, ducking her head to avoid the truth that looked at her.  
As she walked out of the shop, and consequently out of his life yet again, he couldn't help but notice the grey hand pressing into her side, as if keeping her out of the way of pain.

***

"Hermione, where are you taking me?" Hermione laughed as she heard her previous words reflected in Ginny's voice. "We're going to a shop where you by loads of films and music and posters, and things like that." Hermione stopped. Ginny looked up, her face a mask of excitement and terror. "Hermione, what's Hmmmvh?" The girl next to Ginny choked. "I'm sorry?" Hermione wiped stray tears from her face. "What's _what_?"  
"What's Hmmmvh?" A laugh escaped Hermione's mouth before she clapped her hand over it. "Up there. Hmmmvh." Ginny, baffled by Hermione's laughter pointed up to the HMV sign above the shop. "Ginny," Hermione laughed, "that says HMV. Not Hmmmvh!" She burst out laughing. Her red-headed friend crossed her arms and passed the well known Molly Weasley death glare onto Hermione. "Okay okay, I'll be nice." Hermione smiled. She linked her arm with Ginny's and pulled her into the shop. "Welcome to the miraculous muggle world of CD's, DVD's, Ipod's and many more." Ginny curiously followed Hermione into the shop.  
"So this is a CD," Hermione held up a blank CD.  
"Hermione, I know what a CD is. Believe it or not, I know what a CD, DVD, and Ipod is. Low and behold the benefits of an obsessed dad." Ginny said.

"Well, how was I supposed to know, you did call it Hmmmvh." Ginny ignored her friend as she burst into giggles yet again. "So, do they only have muggle artists, here, or do they have our type as well?" Ginny followed Hermione to the rock/pop section of the shop. "No, they only have muggle artists."  
"Oh, well this is going to boring." Hermione rolled her eyes at that.  
"Why don't you go look at the posters, find some cool things there."  
"Fine." Ginny wondered off.  
Hermione took around two hours to explore the whole of HMV, or Hmmmvh as Ginny would call it. She picked up countless numbers of CD's, looking at her favourite bands new releases. The songs names displayed on the back of the case. She stroked them with a hopeful longing. She had more than enough money to buy all of the CD's she wanted, but she'd given up on that years ago. The protection spells around the school interfered with electrical devices, it was like living in the stone age, but so much cooler, she thought to herself. Even though she loved Hogwarts more than anything in the whole wide world, it did have its downfalls.  
Ginny walked up to Hermione in confusion. "Why don't you buy them," she gestured dismissively to the CD's surrounding them. "You have enough money."  
"It'd be pointless." Hermione sighed in reply.  
"Why?"  
"The protection spells around the school interfere with electricity, and well, any type of muggle technology." A silence encompassed the two for a couple of long seconds.  
"Well, I'm going to go pay for these, and we'll go," Ginny shrugged.


	4. These Three Words Part Two

**A/N: Thanks so much for sticking with this guys – Hermione's secret will be revealed soon! Just keep on waiting. Thanks, R&R people please! P.S. Anything you recognize apart from my OC Conner belongs to J.K Rowling - GUYS**

Hermione and Ginny crashed into the Gryffindor common room, laughing hysterically. "Where have you been? We were looking everywhere for you! You missed Harry on his broom, chasing a chocolate snitch." Ron stood up out of his chair. "Oh, how lovely to see you too, Ronald." Hermione turned towards Ginny on the floor and started pulling tiny bags out of her pockets. "Ohh no!" Laughter shook Ginny's slender frame. "What's wrong now?"  
"I think the chocolate melted and exploded over my eye shadows!" Ginny gingerly put two fingers in a tiny bag and pulled out a minuscule chocolate covered eye shadow.  
Ron loped over to the girls, Harry following, wanting to know what they were doing with little bags. "What in Merlin's beard is that? It looks like it's covered in a load of shi-"  
"RONALD!" Ron stared down at his feet.  
"Sorry 'Mione." Her brown head bobbed satisfactorily. Harry leaned back on a chair as he sat down next to his friends on the red and gold rug, by the fire. "So, where have you been then?" He asked. The two girls waved their wands, and the shopping bags were soon back to their original size. "Shopping," Ginny replied, absent-mindedly.  
"So I can see," Harry whispered under his breath.  
All around the girls, bags were scattered. The two friends collapsed back onto the floor. Ron, interested in what they had bought, opened the bag closest to him, which just happened to be a La Senza bag. He reached in and closed his hand around a curiously silky and lacy item. He pulled it out, looked down, jumped, and threw it across the other side of the common room. "Ron. Go pick that up right now!" Ginny exclaimed. He vigorously shook his head. "Uh-uh. I am not touching my sisters, well my sisters … um … my sisters-"  
"For goodness sake, Ron! Spit it out! My bra and pants. For Merlin's sake you'd think he'd never realised what a girl wears." Ron's face turned to the exact shade of his vibrant red hair. _How cute…_

"Go on Ron, they're not even mine, they're Hermione's," Ginny sighed. Ron visibly perked up at this. "I'll get them!" He ran over to the corner of the room where he'd thrown the offending items, picked them up, ran back, and handed them to Hermione, who proceeded to give them to Ginny. "But – I thought you said they were Hermione's."  
"I lied." Ginny flashed a brilliant smile at the two boys. One of them started rubbing his hands frantically, while the other sat up straighter than before. I think you can guess which one was which.  
"Shall we go down to dinner then?" Ginny said as she came back down from putting her newly acquired belongings in the trunk at the end of her four poster. Harry rushed up to help her through the hole out of the dormitories, with Hermione following and Ron trailing behind.  
When the four of them entered the Great Hall, they could tell that something was wrong – the normal mountains of food were absent from the table – no-one was eating. This meant that an announcement was to be made. They hurried past a sniggering Malfoy to the Gryffindor table, where Ginny went off to sit with her friends and Ron, Hermione and Harry went to sit by Seamus and Dean.  
The elderly man at the front of the vast area stood up, hands held up for silence. Immediate calm fell. "Thank you. Now, today we have a very important announcement. Your timetables have been changed due to a new lesson being formed. This new lesson, Health lesson, will be taught by a number of different teachers. You will be taught theory, for example by Professor Slughorn, and you will then have to pick an activity such as dance, athletics, quidditch, karate, and more." A number of groans sounded around the room at this. Dumbledore held his hands up yet another time. "Now, as far as I can hear, I know a great number of you are not pleased about these arrangements, but times are hard, and when it comes to the time in which you need to use the skills which you have been taught, some of you may struggle. You need not only to know how to protect yourself magically, you will need to know how to take care of your body. By having a healthy body you will be able to move around easier, and therefore protect yourself, and the others around you, from harm easier… Your heads of house will now promptly hand out your new timetables. Let the feast," he clapped his hands together once, "begin."  
As students spooned delicious substances onto their plates, the heads of house waved their wands dramatically, distributing the new timetables. "Ooo ve you god, 'ermiknee?" Hermione rolled her eyes.  
"With your mouth closed please Ron?" Ron finished his first portion of roast potatoes and replied: "Who have you got, Hermione?"  
"Slughorn, yourself?" She questioned.  
"Same. Looks like we all have." Ron gestured to the trio. "I just hope that ferrets not with us." Harry made a sound of agreement.  
"Hello, Potter..."

***  
"He's such a twat, that ferret." Stated Ron. Noises of agreement echoed around them. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Seamus and Dean were walking from dinner back to the Gryffindor common room. Presently, the group were comforting a very well, to put it frankly, 'pissed off' Ron. Malfoy had been stupid enough to bring up the article which had appeared in The Daily Prophet that morning. Let's just say, when it comes to Ron, never say anything bad about Hermione and Harry, or even Ginny to him, the boy loved his friends and family. The result of this, was a detention with Filch on Monday night.  
"Luna!" Ginny cried as she spotted the Ravenclaw skipping down the stairs next to them. Luna swiftly turned around, her tousled hair dangling in her eyes. "Hi Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Dean and Seamus. What can I do for you all this fine evening?" She smiled.  
"Luna, Hermione and I are having a sleepover in the room of requirements tonight we'll be there around 8, and of course will finish when we wake up in the morning. Would you like to join us?" A luminescence lit up the girls face. She hugged the two of them, Ginny and Hermione. "I would love to!" She exclaimed, and skipped away down towards the kitchen's. "I seriously hope she likes what we got her," Ginny admitted, looking at the girls retreating form.  
"What sleepover?" Ron asked, looking rather sulkily at the two girls.  
"We're having a sleepover, dear brother." Ginny patted her fellow red-heads shoulder. "Not that it should interest you, being an all girl event. We'll be talking about handbags, make-up, periods-"  
"And guys." Hermione piped in, looking at him thoughtfully. Ron quickly walked over to Harry who had previously walked ahead of them mumbling about 'death eater Draco'.

"Ah, bless my dear brother's innocence," said Ginny as the two girls climbed into the common room. They jogged up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. "See you down there?" Ginny asked. A curt nod of the head showed Ginny that Hermione was in agreement.  
Hermione carried on up the stairs to the sixth year girl's dormitory. She went in and started preparing an overnight bag of essentials she would need. After packing her toothbrush, toothpaste, PJ's, hairbrush and clothes for the next day, she felt inclined to reduce the size of her shopping bags and bring them with her. At that moment Lavender decided to walk in with Parvati.  
"Hi Hermione, what you doing there? Going away?" Hermione gritted her teeth against the girl's voice. "No, just getting my things for a sleepover. After meeting up with an old friend of mine in Oxford Street, I just felt I _had_ to have a sleepover, to discuss this piece of news! You know, and go all out with cookie dough ice cream and _all_ of the toppings." She turned around to face the two girls just in time to see Lavender's face drop with surprise at Hermione's girlish tone.  
Parvati nudged her best friend in the side. Lavender quickly closed her mouth. "That sounds really fun Hermione, I hope you have a great time. I saw you in Honeyduke's, are you okay?"  
"Yes, thank you Parvati, Pansy was just a bit, well, yeah." Lavender looked down at her feet. "Pansy can be such a bitch, even if she is a bit dim. You know what I heard? I heard that Draco's never had eyes for her. She just passed up loads of rumours. Not that anyone believed what she said; he would never go out with her. Too pug-faced, not his taste." She looked up at Hermione as she voiced the last sentence. Hermione felt a rush of thanks to the girls – without knowing it, they had made her feel better. The frizzy haired girl turned around as she reached the door. "Would you guys like to come? To the sleepover, that is?" They nodded. "Come to the room of requirements, at about, 8?"  
"We'll be there." Answered Parvati. Hermione walked down the stairs to the common room.  
Hermione approached Ginny, who was waiting for her in a sofa, chatting to Harry. She nimbly sat down between the two of them. "Houston, we have a problem." A questioning look overcame the red-heads face. "Lavender and Parvati are coming." Ginny looked at Hermione. "Houston, we have a problem." She repeated Hermione's words. "Some of my friends are coming too." They both groaned.  
"How is that a problem?" Harry's green eyes flickered between them uneasily.  
"Now there'll be people that we don't like coming to _our_ sleepover."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah, oh. Oh oh oh oh oh." The sofa sighed as the two friends got up. "We better go then. Bye Harry." Ginny hugged Harry good bye. "Bye guys."  
"Bye." The two girls walked out of the common room.  
"You did bring everything you bought, didn't you Hermione?" Hermione smiled, patting her bag. "Yep." She pronounced it strangely, popping the 'p'.  
"Good." The two of them walked in silence for a number of minutes.  
"So what are we going to ask for?" Hermione asked Ginny.  
"How about … A place with which we will have privacy, but also where we can have a hell of a good time." Her eyes sparkled.  
"Sounds good to me." _We need a place with which we will have privacy, but also a hell of a good time. _Ginny walked past the wall once, twice, three times.  
A door slowly materialised in the wall, the bricks gradually turned brown, taking on a wooden texture. The black outline of a handle wove its way on the wood,

and soon, Ginny was touching the cold metal and pulling the door open. The two girls walked in, and as they took in the space around them, they were subconsciously aware of the hissing sound of the door melting back into the room behind them.  
Ginny squealed, clapping her hands and jumping up and down. "Ginny, this is perfect." Hermione gasped. Instead of the cold stone they remembered from the days of Dumbledore's Army, the floor of the room of requirements was covered in a plush, blue and gold carpet. The gold flew gracefully over the deep blue in swirling floral designs. Thick, white, faux fur rugs lay over each other in the centre of the room. At one corner of the room there was a mountain of cushions, the Gryffindor lion emblazoned on some, and the Ravenclaw eagle on others. A display cabinet in the opposite corner contained infinite amounts of games, Muggle and Magical. Hermione could see Twister poking out from behind Wizard's Chess. In front of one wall were screens, and behind those were rails to hang clothes on. In another corner were two large dressing tables. Huge shining mirrors sat on them, fairy lights hung above them. A camera sat on the carpet next to them. On a glass table, relaxed many plates and glasses and a spell book beside them. Ginny wandered happily around the space. "Let's get started."  
She opened her overnight bag and pulled out everything she had bought that day. Hermione followed suit. They both transfigured the bags back to their normal respective sizes. First, they separated refreshments from the make-up, and the make-up from clothes. "Are there any bowls?" Ginny glanced around.  
"Check on the glass table." Her vibrant hair swishing, she loped over to the table.  
"Here we are!" She whipped out a pile of crystal bowls. Digging in her bag, she put 3 family sized different flavoured bags of Dorito's in different bowls. She then proceeded to do the same with Haribo's, and Cadbury's, Galaxy, Nestle, Thornton's and Hotel Chocolat chocolate. Hermione then joined her, putting a crate of Butterbeer next to the drinks. She then added Dr Pepper, Sprite, Coca-Cola, 7-up, and more. The two girls then looked at each other, nodded, and proceeded to push boxes of ice-cream onto the table.  
"How are we going to keep it cold?" Ginny questioned.  
"I don't know. Maybe there's something in that book?" Hermione directed her index finger towards the spell book on the table. Ginny flicked through the pages until she came to one titled: _How to keep refreshments cool. _She skimmed through the page and sighed. "'Mione, you better do this. I doubt I can even say those words, let alone get the wand movement right." Hermione shifted so she could see over Ginny's shoulder. "Oh dear..." Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket. She cleared her throat. "_Refrigeret eam_." The brown-haired girl made a complicated movement with her wand. The ice cream, butterbeer's, and chocolate glowed a faint, icy blue, and then returned back to their normal tone. "Cold?" Ginny reached out to touch the objects; she pulled her hand away quickly. "I'll take that as a yes." Hermione laughed.  
Over the next hour or so, the two whizzed around the room, putting clothes on rails, arranging make-up on the dressing tables, spreading sleeping bags and cushions on the rugs, and spreading games out over the floor. Almost synchronised, they collapsed back onto the rugs just as two girls walked in.  
"Hello Ginny!" Ginny jumped up and enveloped the girls in a hug.  
"You guys alright?" The two girls nodded, looking excitedly at Hermione. "Hermione, come on over here." Ginny called. Hermione reluctantly got up. She could tell that these two girls were excited to see her, or meet her. She recognised the look that they wore upon their faces. They were torn between asking her questions, confirming the gossip travelling around the school, and trying not to be annoying, trying to treat her like an actual person. It had always struck them as strange, her Harry and Ron, that is. The years beneath them always seemed to be in awe of them. She knew that together, the three of them had achieved a lot, but she didn't need to be talked about everywhere she went.  
"This is Aura," Ginny gestured towards a tall, white blonde haired girl, "and this is Emma." She waved in the direction of the brown haired girl beside her. "They're like twins."  
"Hi. I'm-"  
"Hermione Granger! We know!" The two girls ran at her, giving her a crushing hug. "Is it true you were petrified? Are you really the brightest witch of the age? Did Harry Potter and Ron Weasley really save you from a mountain troll?" Hermione looked at the girls, their eyes wide and sparkling. "Yes. No idea. And yes." The two girls burst into fits of giggles, jumping up and down clapping their hands. Ginny held up her hands in annoyance. "Guys, what did I say when I said you could come. I made you promise, you signed the terms and conditions!"  
"Sorry." They mumbled.  
"Terms and conditions?" Hermione's brown eyes switched between all three other girls in turn. "I made them sign a piece of paper that said they would treat you like a person and not a celebrity. Obviously," she exclaimed with vehemence, "it didn't work."  
"Sorry Gin."  
"Sorry Ginny." The red-head nodded approvingly.  
"Hey girls! Sorry we're late," Lavender walked in dramatically. Her wavy brown hair was flowing behind her; Parvati was carrying what looked like to Hermione, Lavender's heavy pink, white spotted overnight bag, and her own blue tie-dye overnight bag. "Wow, this looks great Hermione, well done." Parvati commented.  
"Hmm, my sleepovers always have at _least_ three guys, and I would have _two_ tables of refreshments. My Daddy just couldn't let me cope with any less." She sighed dramatically. "Well lucky for us your _Daddy _isn't here." Aura spoke up. Ginny suddenly doubled over, coughing to hide her infectious laughter.  
"Parvati, _Lavender, _this is Ginny, Aura and Emma. They're in the year below us. All Gryffindor's."  
"That's good," Lavender collapsed theatrically onto the rugs, "for a second I thought you'd invited that Loony Lovegood. She's so weird, always going on about … What does she call them?"  
"Nargles," Parvati supplied miserably.  
"That's it, thanks P. Nargles. Does anyone even know what they are? I mean who came up with them. Only her idiotic father. I doubt she even knows what they-"  
"For Merlin's sake! Is that all you ever do-" Emma burst out.  
"Bitching about people, I mean-" Aura.  
"Really, where is your life?"

"Stop complaining and being cruel to people that enjoy theirs-"  
"And start living your own!" Merlin! They really are like twins.  
At that precise moment, Luna chose to walk in. "Hey. Sorry I'm late, the nargles decided to hide my pyjamas. I finally got them back, thank Merlin." She dumped her bag at the side of the room and sat down on the floor, oblivious to the hush that contaminated the room. Ginny clapped her hands together, breaking the lull. "Shall we get this party started?"  
"Hell to the yes!" Aura yelled. _You know what, _Hermione thought _I think I might get on with Aura just fine. _"You know what this means!" Hermione lit the candles at the

side of the room and promptly cast a charm on them – they flew up into the air and floated slowly around the room. "Twister!" Emma yelled.

***  
Half an hour later, after Parvati had convinced Lavender that she would not break a nail while playing, all six girls where tangled uncomfortably around each other. "Argh! Emma you just stepped on my hand!"  
"Sorry!"  
"My go!" Lavender shouted from her compromising position: her torso and head above Aura's lower body, and her lower body underneath Emma's torso. The charmed spinner spun around and floated towards her head, "left foot red! Argh!" She carefully moved her foot out from underneath Emma's torso and slid it underneath Hermione's head. "Right hand green!" Hermione twisted around, reaching her hand through the gap between Luna's legs and under Ginny's back. "Next," she gritted her teeth. The spin swung around – right foot blue; it moved over to Ginny's head. "What the – I can't do that! I can barely even move!"  
"Stop your complaining, you don't have someone hanging over your lower body." Aura. "Fine!" She gradually shifted her body, and pointed her toes. "Parvati could you just move, yeah that's it. Hey Em, I'm just going to put it over your head okay. No, DON'T MOVE! Arghhhh!" The girls collapsed into a heap on top of each other.  
"Emma. If I say don't move, then DON'T MOVE!"  
"It's not my fault, you didn't have to put your foot over my head."  
"Well if Hermione hadn't put her hand beneath my back!"  
"Hey! Do not bring me into this."  
"You know what?"  
"What?" The group demanded.  
"It's the spinners fault. If it hadn't landed on those moves, we would not be in this mess." The girls stood up and picked sticks of wood off of the side. They slowly moved towards the spinner. "It's not our fault, we were just doing what the spinner said." Almost as if in submission, the spinner backed away from the group of girls. "_Bombarda!" _The group of girls yelled at the same time. The frightened spinner exploded. Pairs of eyes switched, looking at the other's in turn. "Hahahahaha!"  
"Oh, gosh that was good..."

***  
After a Wizards Chess tournament which Ginny won, and a session of complaining about everyone outside of the room, which Aura was very good at contributing to, the girls finally revealed the next activity on the agenda. Ginny stood up.  
"Okay girls, so what you don't know is that today, Hermione and I went to Oxford Street, where she bumped into an old school friend. Ahem! But more importantly, we bought a hell of a lot of clothes and make-up, and now is precisely the time to try them out!" All the girls excluding Hermione and Luna squealed. Ginny caught her friends eye and nodded towards Luna. "But before we start," Hermione scrambled up, "we have something to give to a dear friend of ours." The attention in the room peaked as the girls looked up interestedly. "Luna, when we saw this, we thought of you." Ginny revealed the crop top to Luna. It's a dark mid-blue, with a circle on the front; within the circle are two unicorns, looking at each other.  
Luna looked up, thoughtful eyes shining slightly. Her jeans clad legs slowly pushed her body up. She looked dreamily at the two girls standing before her; then she threw herself at them, crushing them in a bone breaking hug. "Thank you."  
"Now, what I also haven't told you is that with all of this we are having makeovers, but we are all going to give Hermione here a complete makeover to relax-"  
"Ginny that really isn't necessary I-"  
"_To relax because my brother was an overprotective prat to her_." Curly hair fell over Hermione's face as she looked at the floor. "Look, Ginny, I know you mean well but-"  
"No buts 'Mione. You need this and that is my final word." Blue eyes bore into brown ones defiantly until their opposition lowered in submission.  
"Now, the clothes we bought are behind the screens, make-up on dressing tables."  
"Hold on a sec!" Hermione yelled at the others, stopping them in their tracks. She rushed behind the screens, shrank and then pocketed the Schuh bag. She then popped out from behind the screens, accio'd some nail varnish and promptly yelled: "Manicures!" Lavender who was already panting her nails looked up interestedly, and Parvati who was putting a face mask on with Emma, poked herself in the eye at the sudden sound. "Shit." She muttered wiping the tears off of her face. Aura and Ginny looked sneakily at each other; they walked up to 'Mione and took an arm each, leading her over to sit at the vanity. "My dear Hermione, do you really think you can get out of it that easily?"  
"Really 'Mione, you should know better, our dear friend Ginevra here has grown up with the famous twins, she can spot a cover up from a mile off."  
Ginny pulled Hermione's hair off of her face and tied it back with a hair band. Hermione went to stand up to be pushed back by Aura. "Oh no you don't. Hey Ginny where are her pyjama's? I don't really want to do this with her wearing casual clothes, I don't want to wreck them." She asked the re-head looking, around the room.  
"Well, if I were you, I'd just put her in her new underwear and then put a robe on her over the top." Hermione's eyes were wide with panic.  
"Where's her new underwear?"  
"In the pink bag." Aura picked up the bag and peered inside. "Whohohohoa. These are a little spicy, aren't they."  
"For Hermione maybe, just put her in something nude coloured, so it will go will whatever we put her in." Aura waved her wand at Hermione. The brown haired girls clothes were instantly changed. She was now wearing different underwear with a fluffy white robe tied around her waist. "You did clean this didn't you?" Hermione asked gingerly. "Yes, now stop worrying." Ginny pulled Hermione's shoulders onto the chair and pushed her head gently onto the head rest at the back of the chair.  
Aura waved her wand and a bowl full of warm water and a flannel appeared on the vanity. She wet the flannel and pressed it gently against Hermione's face. She then took the Fresh Pharmacy cleanser from the surface of the dressing table and lathered it over her patients face. "How am I going to wash Hermione's hair?" Ginny questioned. "Look around the room," suggested Lavender, who was now giving Emma a pedicure. Hermione picked up her wand and waved laboriously at the chair next to her which transfigured into a large sink on wheels. "Yes, well done Hermione, but it's not connected to the pipes. The girl in question then pointed her wand at the sink and whispered "_Aguamenti."_  
"It's not hot." Ginny protested. Yet again Hermione pointed her wand at the sink. Soon the water within in was giving off a profound amount of steam. She may not want to be pampered, but at least it was managing to get her to forget the irremovable pain that was present in her body, writhing like a snake. Ginny shrugged and started treating Hermione's hair as Aura washed off the cleanser and replaced it with a face mask. "Some help guys?" Ginny called over to the others.  
Aura and Parvati started sorting out Hermione's eyebrows; Lavender started with her manicure and Emma started with Luna on her pedicure. "So what do you guys think about this new lesson?" Questioned Parvati.  
"We think it's a load of rubbish," answered the twins.  
"Why?"  
"Well, I don't see why we have to do it. I already regularly exercise, I can't be bothered to do anymore."  
"At least it will help with quidditch." Ginny stated. "It means the team can get more practise in."  
"Yeah," Parvati agreed, "but it also means that the other teams will see you and be able to anticipate your moves better. What about you Hermione?"  
"I see where Dumbledore's coming from, but our magic should be enough to get rid of these guys. I'm not really looking forward to it. What do you guys think you'll pick?"  
"Quidditch." Replied Aura and Ginny.  
"Dance," Luna stated, Lavender glared at her for stealing her answer.  
"Karate," mumbled Emma. "You?"  
"I don't know. I didn't know you danced Luna."  
"I don't, not anymore, but Daddy let me do ballet when I was little – I had to stop, of course after he discovered the nargles."

Hermione winced at the sudden pain in her eyebrow. She sighed. Was all this pain really worth it? She felt movement around her – her hair was suddenly warm and dry, her face free of moisture. She opened her eyes, seeing a circle of faces above her, looking pleased. She looked towards the vicinity of the mirror, to see that it was covered.  
"You do realise we're not finished with you yet? I'm warning you, this will involve pain." Ginny smirked, a smirk completely unlike that particular ferret. It wasn't cold, it was full of, just cheekiness (obviously inherited by every member of her family); by looking at it, you could tell that it was a result of love, not of hate.  
"What have you done?" Something hot touched her leg; she looked down to see a wax strip. "Ginny! I'm going to kill you. I can't go walking around with this attached to me!" She jumped as her legs were enveloped in heat. Looking down, she saw both of her legs were now covered. "GINNY!" She tried to jump up, but ropes pulled her back down. "You're right Hermione, you can't go around with those attached to you … so I guess we're going to have to rip them off."  
"No Ginny, NO!" She wriggled around in her seat.  
"3...2...1...NOW!"  
"ARGHH! Merlin, who knew legs could be so shiny." The room smiled at the laughter it was witnessing. "That is it." Hermione slapped a strip onto Ginny's bare leg and then ripped it off. "This is on!" Aura held Ginny back.  
"In case you're forgetting, we need to finish my clients transformation."  
"I don't think we need to, Hermione looks great either way." Voiced Luna.  
"Awww thanks Luna, I really appreciate it." Lavender coughed.  
"This is all very sweet Hermione, but we really need to carry on working with you, otherwise it's going to be an even longer night than it is already, and by the looks of it we all need some beauty sleep."  
"Soooo," Ginny interrupted the silence that followed, "let's get started." Ginny clapped her hands. "Look up and close your eyes." Hermione did as her friend asked. For the duration of the session she obeyed instructions and giggled as she felt the faint tickling sensation of brushes on her skin. "Look up." Commanded Aura. Hermione did just that and sighed as she felt something stroke her eyelid. The rest of the girls dipped brushes in brightly coloured pots and smoothed it over her face. They stood back and looked over her as one, satisfied with the result.  
"Oi, Luna, Parvati, have you got the outfit ready?" Emma shouted across the room. They popped out from behind the screen holding a black bag between them. "We're all ready, but we can't find the shoes Ginny wanted."  
"That's alright, I have a feeling Hermione knows where they are." She smiled meaningfully at her shopping buddy who blushed. _Why on earth did I just blush? I'm not Lavender Brown or that simpering Pansy Pug Parkinson. All this attention must have gone to my head._  
Ginny interrupted Hermione's inner thoughts by gesturing for her to stand. Aura's slender fingers twitched her wand at Hermione, putting her in her original clothes. "Give me the bag please," Ginny held out her hand. Hermione delicately pulled it from within the depths of her pocket, placing it in Ginny's hand. Aura then repeated her previous movement and Hermione was in something completely different.  
She went to look in the mirror, but Ginny held her back. "Shoes first." Ginny pulled a box out of the bag and then frowned. She looked in the bag, and then at the box in her hand, bag, box in her hand. Bag, box in her hand. Right left right left right left. "Hmm." The girls all looked curiously at each other. "'Mione. How many pairs of shoes did you buy?"  
"One. Why?"  
"Come here." Hermione went to stand next to Ginny. She looked in the bag and then the box, the bag, the box, the bag, the box. "They look like those things with bobbing heads," whispered Parvati into Aura's ear.  
Hermione pulled another box out of the bag and sat down on the floor with Ginny. They looked between the boxes. Petit fingers pulled the lid off of the first box, which contained black Dr Martins; the same fingers then pulled the lid off of the second box, and then moved to push against the small girls side. In the second box was a note laying across red Dr Martins. Hermione picked it up and read:

_Hermione,_

_I'm so glad I got to see you today; I've missed you so much. I know you're probably going to be mad at me, but I bought these for you. I have no idea where you've been or what you've been doing all of these years, but even though we've been apart for so long I know something is up. You're not happy, not entirely. Just be careful. I did notice the 'I need them to blend in'. You don't have to tell me why you're in pain – no, I don't know why, but I know you haven't told anyone yet. I'm here for you … remember that._

_Love Conner xx_

Hermione put her fingers to her lips. "Hermione, what is it?" Something next to her asked. "Conner, he bought them for me." She pulled the red boots out of the box and put them on, stroking the leather. She stood up, solitary. "You ready to see?" The dreamy voice echoed in the wonder surrounding her. The girls head nodded slightly, she was stuck in her head, replaying the letter over and over again. She walked over to the full length mirror, mind absent from her actions. Her Dr Martins fit perfectly, almost as if they were made for her. A white sheet fell down from the mirror, exposing her.  
She stared at the mirror, in awe of the girl standing in it. The girl was slim, her skin glowed with life, even if it was pale. _I'm so glad I got to see you today. _Her shining brown hair cascaded down her back in even waves. _I've missed you so much. _A light blush covered her cheeks and the edges of her full lips were turned upwards, the result of a life-time of happiness. _You're not happy, not entirely. _Her large eyes sparkled in the midst of a few freckles. _Just be careful._ In them was a hidden depth: sorrow, adventure, happiness. _You don't have to tell me. _She wore a plain white t-shirt, and a sleeveless transparent cream cardigan with fringe hanging from its halfway point. _I know you haven't told anyone yet. _Shorts emphasised her shining long legs. _I'm here for you._ She wore knee high grey socks pushed down to her ankle, and her red Dr Martins inspired life in the ground beneath them. _Love Conner xx_  
Hermione gasped as the realisation of the fact that this girl was her, cut through her daze. She tried to say something, but nothing came out. She tried again. "Thank you." Ginny smiled at her, watery, and gave her a hug.  
"It's a shame we can't show you off," Luna gave Hermione a hug.  
Aura grinned evilly, "oh but we can..."

***  
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Groaned Hermione.  
"Of course I am, it's a brilliant idea!" The group of girls walked along the corridor. Lavender had decided it would be a wonderful idea to head to the Gryffindor common room to show off their new looks. She undoubtedly wanted to impress someone, as she was wearing a very short skirt and skintight crop top. As long as it wasn't any of Hermione's friends, she honestly couldn't care less.  
Hermione pulled her cardigan close around her body, as if to protect herself from others stares. The girls jumped as a cackle sounded above them. "Granger alone without Potty and Weasel, oooh! There is his sister, the one with red hair! Now who should I call, how about Proffessor -"  
"Peeves!" The spectral form zoomed down to float in front of Ginny.  
"There is the fat one with lots of red hair!" The ghost cackled at his jest.  
"Aww Peeves – thank you so much for that beautiful compliment. Now, you wouldn't want to upset the twins, would you?" Peeves shook his head vehemently as Ginny pulled some dung bombs out of her pocket. "So I suggest you create some trouble for old Filch for them. Yes?" Peeves took the dung bombs out of Ginny's hand and whizzed of towards one of the many corridors in the school.  
"Well, what do you think we have here Zabini?"  
"I don't know, but it looks like I'm gonna have to go to St Mungo's, 'cause girls, just one look at you makes my heart stop with _desire_."Synchronised, the girls turned around to face the end of the corridor. "Hey there," A pale guy strutted up to Hermione, "you may be as good as a Gryffindor," he glanced down at her red boots, "but do you fancy turning to the dark side?" He stepped closer to Hermione, leaning in to whisper in her ear: "I hear it can be quite … _Exciting_." The brunette recoiled in disgust.  
"No thanks _Malfoy_, never in my life would I want to be with a dirty little ferret like you. But it is quite nice to know that you're no longer against us muggle-borns, eh?" Hermione retorted. "Looks like the, so called, Slytherin Prince has taken a liking to my lovely friend Hermione, doesn't it Zabini?" Asked Aura, walking circles around Draco's fellow Slytherin. "Granger?!" They gasped, shocked.  
"Do you like the new Hermione Granger boys?" Emma questioned, reminding everyone of her presence. "As if, she's still an ugly muggle-born!" Malfoy spluttered. "Look she's so fat she can barely fit in those shorts! As if, I'd want to be with that." He turned around sharply and walked down to the Slytherin common room. Noticing his friend was still in the process of gazing at Aura, he turned, scolded: "Zabini!", and continued walking. "Come on, let's go" Ginny pulled Hermione along, not noticing Luna who was closely inspecting the area around her head.

***  
Around fifteen minutes after they arrived at the Gryffindor common room, Hermione left again. She felt uncomfortable in the clothes that she wore, and was sick and tired of Ron not even looking up from his conversation about quidditch to say hi to her. It was blatantly obvious to anyone that Hermione loved him. Sure, they argued a considerable amount, and he annoyed the hell out of her, but he always stuck by her, unlike a lot people she knew. No matter what, she knew he would always stick by her.  
After about an hour, the door materialised again and Luna, Lavender, Parvati, Emma and Ginny entered. "You didn't have to wait up for us 'Mione" Aura glanced at Hermione who was sitting on a beanbag in the corner of the room, reading a book. She had changed into a baggy top and bottoms. "It's fine, really."  
The rest of the group changed into their pyjama's, grabbed various snacks off of the refreshments table, organised their make-shift beds and got into them. Their duvets were in the shape of a circle, everyone's heads were in the middle, in preparation of a long night of talking. "Come and join us Hermione," commented Luna in her unicorn patterned nightgown.  
"So 'Mione, what's this I hear about an extra pair of Dr Martins?" Emma asked, digging a spoon into a carton of Ben and Jerry's Cookie and cream ice cream. "What about an extra pair of Dr Martins?" The brunette tactfully avoided.  
"Well," started Lavender, "you claimed you only bought one pair of _black_ Dr Martins, but … You were wearing _red_ Dr Martins last time I checked."  
"And who is Conner?" Questioned Aura. Hermione coughed angrily, glancing round the circle of girls, noticing that Ginny was currently reading the back of a packet of Haribo's. "GINEVRA WEASLEY! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!" Ginny army crawled over to Hermione, a sweet smile plastered on her face; she put her arms around Hermione and hugged her tight. "Looove yooooou."  
"Oh be quiet."  
"I love you."  
"Ginny I-"  
"Love you."  
"GINNY-"  
"I LOVE YOU HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!"  
"You're unbelievable. Ginny, how could you?" Ginny smiled pleadingly at the girl in her arms. "It was too sweet, I had to tell them about how you bumped into each other!"  
"You told all of them?" Ginny's pony tail swayed from side to side as she shook her head, and then moved up and down on her back as she hesitantly nodded it. "What did you tell them?"  
"Only that you met Conner, an old school sweetheart in Schuh."  
"He was not my sweetheart!" Luna giggled at Hermione's outburst. "What?"

"Well he obviously was," Ginny smiled cheekily.  
"Now tell us about the Dr Martin incident," Lavender leaned in searching for gossip. Small hands covered Hermione's face as she shook her head. "I have nothing to say," she murmured. "Mind if I tell?" Ginny poked Hermione in the shoulder. Jerked from her daze, Hermione looked despairingly up at her friend. A silent meaning was conveyed between the two; Hermione turned around, lay on her stomach, and buried her head beneath her arms. "Well, first, whatever happens in this room stays in this room, swear?" Hermione heard agreement and a muttered enchantment sound. "Well, Hermione wanted to go into Schuh to get some black Dr Martins, and ..."  
Hermione stared into the flame of a candle, letting the conversation behind her drift away. _I'm so glad I got to see you today, I've missed you so much. _It was such a shock for her, seeing Conner. _I know something is up. _But at the moment, she had no idea whether it was a good, or bad shock. _You're not happy, not entirely. _In one way, it was a good shock – he was her best friend. _Just be careful. _But then, she'd gotten over him, over the pain she felt when she left. _I did notice the 'I need them to blend in'. _He knew her so well, he always knew exactly what she needed. _You don't have to tell me why your in pain. _She'd thought of getting back in contact with him._ No, I don't know why. _But then it all happened._ I know you haven't told anyone yet. _She couldn't bear to face him, because then she'd have to face it, face the truth. _I'm here for you … remember that._

_Love Conner x_

Hermione sneakily took her wand from the side of her bed. As another spasm of pain rushed through her stomach, she clutched it even harder. Her mouth formed an incantation. The pain immediately faded, and she let out a sigh as her abdominals stopped tensing. She drifted off to sleep with the days events drifting restlessly through her mind.

_I'm here for you … remember that._

_Love Conner x_


	5. What rhymes with Sunday Monday?

**A/N: I don't own any of the characters except my original characters, also my beta hasn't sorted this out yet, so please forgive me if there are any mistakes x**

Hermione woke up, an ache in her neck from where her head had lost the comfort and support of her pillow. Dappled over her face, sunlight was streaming into the room, casting playful shadows amongst the people inside. Muffled crumples of duvets and sighs into said duvets probed into Hermione's consciousness; limbs stretched as she woke up, squinting at the light. 9 o'clock. _Time to get up._

Her kindness getting to her, she cleared up all of the bowls of leftover food and packed up all of her clothes and make-up. After changing into jeans and a jumper, brown hair bouncing behind her, she walked, enjoying the feel of the sunlight on her skin. As soon as she turned the corner, she stopped, just in time to prevent herself from bumping into someone. "Sorry-" she started to say. The dark haired girl abruptly stopped talking when she looked up: pale skin, stark shadows under the eyes, and the eyes unseeing. Malfoy.

Preparing for an attack of some kind her fingers played with the wand in her pocket. He looked down into her eyes. "Watch where you're going, Mudblood," he mumbled half-heartedly, moving to the side and continuing on to where he was going. The girls' feet were planted to the stone floor in surprise. That wasn't nearly as vicious as she would have expected it to have been. Something must be wrong. Malfoy looked tired, and the contrast between the grey shadows under the eyes and his pale skin made him look ill. _I swear he didn't look that bad when I last saw him…_

Continuing along her path, Hermione finally reached the Gryffindor common room, and once she'd gone to her dorm and showered and changed into clean clothes, she went down to breakfast.

The Great Hall was relatively empty. Only a few people were there, probably because it was one of the two days that of the week that students could have a lie-in. Once she'd sat down at her usual spot, she pulled a Muggle novel out of her bag. Time alone was rare these days; everyone was hectic, worrying about what was happening in the wizarding world. Everyone could tell something was going on, even her parents could, and they were muggles. Studying was becoming harder with less time to spare when she had to concentrate on ways to defeat Voldemort. Moreover, she had to try and convince Harry that Malfoy was _not _a death eater, and help her two best friends with essays despite the fact that she had had enough of both of them for the while.

She couldn't read, there was too much to think about, to figure out and attempt to understand, and there was that stupid book! Spells written on odd pages and Harry asking her about them, perfect potions that came to be when he hadn't figured out how to perfect them himself. She did love her friends, but it did frustrate her completely when she had to work insanely hard and they just breezed through the years. There were just too many problems to think about. Then there was the one that was always being thought about. The one she spent hours pouring over books trying to unpick, but never could. Sometimes solutions were just too well hidden from the eye.

Sighing, Hermione looked around the great hall, there were the usual people that were up early, Ravenclaws studying, young Gryffindors trying out spells, and a few who just woke when the sun rose. Luna waved at her from over her Quibbler, and Hermione waved back.

At around 10 o'clock, students started pouring in through the doors for breakfast. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Aura, Emma, Lavender and Parvati sat by her. "Mione, were did you get to this morning?" Ginny asked, yawning slightly as she put a fried breakfast onto her plate.

"I did something called wake up Gin, maybe you've heard of it. Besides, I have a lot of work to do, and many books to read, I'm not going to do all of that by sleeping the morning away."

"You work too hard,"

"You say that now, wait until next year." Hermione closed her book, memorising the page number. Ginny and friends turned to each other talking, creating a barrier between the two years.

Hermione wondered whether to tell Harry about the issue with Malfoy. Even though it was nothing abnormal, the insult hurt, but she couldn't help notice that there wasn't the normal conviction within his voice. _He was tired, there's nothing else to it Hermione, he must have just been up with Parkinson all night._

"Are you alright Hermione?" Harry looked up at her before taking a bite of his breakfast. "Yeah, it's just Malfoy." He straightened, eyes darting around for the boy in question. "Harry it's fine, he just called me the normal names, that's all. It's becoming a bit annoying more than anything else." A hand rested on her hers, giving it a squeeze; she smiled gratefully at him. "Aren't you going to eat anything?" Harry questioned.

"No, I'm never hungry in the morning remember?" He nodded.

"I still think you should eat something. What was Malfoy doing anyway?"

"Why do you want to know?" Hermione rose one eyebrow as she nicked one of the chips from his fry-up, "there you go, I ate something."

"I was just wondering…"

Ron stopped focusing on his breakfast just in time to trail on, "wondering about what?"

"Where Malfoy was going this morning." Hermione's voice was strong, unhappy with Harry's constant unhealthy curiosity towards the pureblood. "Why would you know?"

"Hi Ron," Lavender called over to Ron across the table. Hermione looked at her in indignation.

"Um hi, Lavender," he turned back to face Hermione, leaving Lavender gazing love struck at him.

Hermione turned back to Ron after a couple of seconds. "I would know where Malfoy was going this morning Ronald, because as you would know if you had listened, I bumped into him this morning… He was going up the stairs, so I have know idea where exactly he was going."

Harry frowned. "Don't tell me you're still obsessing over him mate."

"No, curiosity just got the better of me."

"So, what are we doing today?" Harry turned towards his two friends.

"I was going to spend the day practising for tryouts," Ron said,

"and I am going to finish my homework for next week in the library" Hermione continued.

Ginny strolled over, "Ready to go big brother?" She threw Hermione a grin. "Can't wait to beat this one, the idiot thinks he can save more times than I can score." Ron got up and ruffled Ginny's hair in affection. "Care to help us Harry?"

"I was going to get some work done actually, I still haven't done that DADA essay. Maybe I'll join you later." Hermione watched the two siblings as they left the Great Hall. She wondered what it would be like to have that type of love for someone. The only thing she could think of that was close to that was her relationship with Harry.

"And on that note, I am going to go to the library. Would you like to join me?" Harry looked around the table for an escape route – Hermione would definitely make sure he did all of his work – seeing there were none, he smiled kindly and stood up with her. "I just need to grab my books from my dorm." He said. Hermione nodded, implying that that was okay, and they went to the common room.

It was a rather cold day. Biting wind snuggled into way into Harry's bones despite the fact that he was covered up in thick layers of wool. After around two hours of studying with Hermione, he'd gotten bored and found himself making an excuse to go to the owlery. Guilt nipped at his conscience, as he knew that his best friend knew that he was merely making an excuse to get out of the library.

He definitely didn't have anything against Mione, it was just that he could not stand sitting in a dusky light, pouring over the pages of the musty books that she loves; he just couldn't sit still, in silence, for any longer.

Hedwig was pleased to see him, recently he'd paid little to no attention to her; he couldn't help but feel bad. "Hey girl" Hedwig nipped him in greeting. "How are you, eh?" She hooted at him. Harry scratched her on the back of her head, sighing tiredly. He'd written a note that day to Fred and George, in the hope of finding out how everything was at Diagon Alley. Rumours had been spreading, and according to some articles, less people went there everyday just out of fear, he wasn't surprised considering half of the shops had closed down, but still, he hoped business was good for them … And he also hoped that they could tell him about anything unusual that had occurred recently that was going on.

Hermione lay on the floor in the library. She'd left the spot she was in earlier when Harry had left, moving to somewhere she felt more at home. Around her books were spread out haphazardly, laying over each other, pages held down in the corners by other books, pages in serious risk of being bent. Currently, she was pouring over a collection of family trees, trying to find a connection. Any connection. After all these years, she was still trying, and she still couldn't find a link. All she could feel was frustration.

No one but her and of course the librarian knew about this part of the library, it was so hidden within the depths of the maze of literature that only few would manage to find it. In comparison to the other parts of the musty area, it was surprisingly comfortable: thick rugs were draped over the freezing surface of the floor, two plush sofas' were at a right angle to each other and it was rather well lit. This area was her own private haven, and she really didn't want to reveal it to anyone else, it seemed as if it had been created to reward those who loved to learn with a burning passion. Or those that had something that they needed to find out.

"Ron. Ron. RONALD WEASLEY!"

"Mum! Erm … I mean, Hermione, what are you doing here?" Ron looked up from his game of exploding snap with Seamus. "I was just wondering if you knew where Harry was? He said he'd be at the owlery, but he wasn't there," Hermione looked at Ron as he pushed a hand through his mop of classic Weasley red hair. "Um, last time I saw him he was down at the quidditch pitch with me and Ginny, maybe he's still there," he replied as Seamus put down another card. "Okay … thanks anyway."

"It's fine." Hermione started walking towards a corner of the common room to do some more work.

"Hi Mione! Join us!" Hermione turned towards the source of the two feminine voices to see Emma and Aura lounging around by the roaring fire with Ginny. _So much for Ginny hanging out with Harry._ "Hi guys, are you all alright?" The brunette walked over to them and folded her legs beneath her on the sofa.

"The question is, are you? You don't seem to be your normal cheery self today Miss Gryffindor Princess," Aura looked up at Hermione earnestly, her eyes glinting in the firelight. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"At least four, but it's stuck now, there is no way I will _not _use that nickname from now on," various grins were pointed in the sixth years direction. "Ginny?" Hermione couldn't believe she had ended up having to _plea_. "You know she's not going to listen to me," all Hermione could do at that was groan.

"Anyway, you still haven't answered my question: what's up?"

"I am absolutely fine-"

"That's a lie." Hermione looked down on the blonde who was currently lying on the floor gazing up at her. "What makes you say that?"

"We saw you checking him out." Hermione sighed.

"I was not checking Ronald out," Aura giggled.

"We didn't say you were admiring Ron, but now you've admitted it…" Yet again, Hermione groaned, now she'd done it. "A, Ron is Ginny's brother, it would just be weird, and B, I've known him so long that it would be like incest," they all glanced over in the boy's direction as his deck of cards blew up. "Amen to that, but you know what they say, the best _friendly_ relationships are built out of the best friendships. That can all be gotten rid of."

"Yeah, except the whole Ron is Ginny's brother thing, that's genetics, and so can't be gotten rid of." Emma joined in the conversation.

"Look, I will be honest here, it would be pretty cool if the two of you went out, because then if you got married we'd be sisters!"

Hermione laughed, then: "Ginny we were talking about dating not being tied to someone for your whole life." Ginny crossed her legs on the sofa, turning to face her best friend.

"Actually, we were talking about checking people out to begin with. So, you would like to date him then."

Hermione looked down at the floor an unreadable expression on her face. Would she like to date him? She'd known the boy since she was 11. She knew all of his faults, his awful table manners, for instance. Yet, she did know all of the great things about him, she knew how brave he could be, all you had to do was think back to the giant chessboard when trying to get to the philosopher's stone, and he was so protective of his family, even if it did get a bit out of hand sometimes. The love in his heart was boundless, mindless of what she'd said about him having the emotional range of a teaspoon. But, he was almost like a brother, in a way. Still, the image of him pushing his gorgeous red hair off of his face would rid itself of her mind … Did she want to date him?

"I … I don't know," she looked up at her expectant audience, breaking the silence between them. "Ugh, and here I was actually expecting a solid answer from Miss Gryffindor Princess over here," Aura sighed.

"Mione," Emma shifted so she was kneeling on the floor instead of lying on it, "put it this way, do you think he's attractive?" Hermione paused for a moment.

"I don't know. Personality wise I suppose sometimes he is, and then physically I can see that-"

"Whoah, slow down, okay, first, do you think the youngest male Weasley over there is physically attractive?" Hermione thought of Ron, his vivid blue eyes, and the muscular frame he'd acquired over the summer from playing quidditch with his brothers. She closed her eyes. "Yes," she opened her eyes, looking at each of their faces in turn, "I do."

"Well thank Merlin for that, at least you can recognise a hot guy when you see one!" Aura exclaimed, turning heads in the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey!" Ginny interjected.

Hermione turned back to Aura, "well if you like him so much why don't you go out with him?" She asked jumpily.

"Let's just say I have my eyes set on someone else right now," she grinned cheekily.

"Okay, back to the subject," Emma sent a glare in her twins direction, "do you think his personality is attractive?" Hermione thought for a moment, trying to think of a way she could explain herself. "Sometimes," she settled.

"Sometimes." They all repeated after her.

"Elaborate Miss Gryffindor Princess," commanded Aura, waving her hand like royalty. Internally groaning at the nickname, Hermione continued, "sometimes he can be really sweet and charming, he'll ask you how you are and actually listen to your answer, and if something's wrong he'll spot it straight away, but..."

"But…" They prompted.

"But … He's only like that if he hasn't a mate or quidditch on his mind. He can be a pain in the backside with awful table manners, and an inability to grasp the concept of listening."

"So he's lovely except when he has a mate around or when he's concerned about quidditch." Ginny clarified, leaning her head on Hermione's shoulder. "A typical man then," Aura sighed, "how I hate typical men."

"How is it that I'm older than all of you and yet you all understand guys better than I do and all have more experience than I?" The sixth year questioned wonderingly.

"Because you're Hermione Granger," Aura supplied, "you're a genius in anything and everything, as long as it involves something which can be learnt out of a book, and unfortunately," she yawned, "relationships can't."

Hermione woke up reaching for her alarm clock. 3 AM. Wonderful. She cast her head back and went to sleep…

Hermione woke up in a cold sweat. 5 AM. She'd only managed to get another two hours sleep before waking up _again_. The same old dream. Every single time it was the same old dream, yet she couldn't shake it off, it kept on re-entering her mind in the same way that a ghost always came back, and, like a ghost, she knew what she had to do to stop it, but she just couldn't find what she had to. She'd poured over family trees, records of deaths and births, books about ancient magic, prophecies, and yet she still couldn't find what she needed to. Thank Merlin that she didn't mind the library.

Hermione rubbed her hands over her grey face – another Monday morning. She picked up her wand from where it rested on her bedside table, grabbed her clothes where she'd laid them the previous night, and made her way to the bathroom.

After her comforting vanilla shower, and after ridding herself of the horrible feeling that clung to her teeth, Hermione got dressed, and looked in the mirror. The grey sickness of her dream still clung to her face, casting it in a sickly grey light. The refusal of the shadows under her eyes to move resulted in an even layer of foundation being applied to her skin. She twisted her hair up into a bun, ensuring the strands were well away from her face, and looked in the mirror once more. She now looked vaguely healthy. Her skin no longer looked as if it belonged to a dead person, and she even looked respectable now. The traces of last night's terrors had left her face. On her way out of the dorm she checked the clock: 6 AM. If the other girls wanted to spend an hour or two getting ready for the day, they'd have to get up soon. "CLASS STARTS IN THREE HOURS!"

Muffled groans sounded, and then: "Thanks Mione."

"Morning Mione," Harry slid onto the bench opposite her, grabbing a bowl of cereal as he did so. "What you doing?"

"Ancient runes."

"I honestly have no idea how you can be bothered to do so many subjects," Harry grabbed a quidditch magazine out of his bag and flipped back to the page he'd got to before Ron had stumbled into his dormitory worrying about whether he would get keeper at the quidditch tryouts. It was not a good way to spend an hour of his life. "Put it in the context that it may be helpful when trying to destroy Voldemort and whatever clues he's left behind."

"Fair enough." Then continued in amiable silence for a while when Hermione noticed Ron entering the Great Hall. "When are quidditch tryouts?" Hermione questioned.

"Friday, we'll probably do them in lunch, and if we run out of time we'll finish after school."

"I hope Ron gets keeper," she sighed, waving as he approached the table.

"So do I, I don't think I can put up with any more of his moaning. Alright mate?" Harry asked Ron as he sat down. "Yeah, just wondering what lovely task we've got tonight thanks to bloody Malfoy." They all groaned.

"Ugh, I'd forgotten about that, trust Malfoy to wreck the day, eh Harry?" Ginny sat down a space away from Harry, waiting for Dean to join her. "Oh, yeah … I like your hair today Ginny, have you done something new with it?"

A pink colour graced the girls cheeks, "no I haven't actually, but thanks anyway."

"Oh, umm … Okay."

"Hiya Harry!" Dean pat the boy on the back as he slid into the space next to him. "Ginny," he kissed his girlfriend quickly, whispering something in her ear; she giggled.

"Morning Ron," Lavender breathlessly sauntered past, sitting herself a few seats away next to Parvati. "Umm morning." Hermione looked around, amused at the entertaining shows of affection, when Cormac Mclaggen caught her eye and winked. "Ugh."

"Are you okay Mione?" Ron asked.

"Wonderful thanks." She turned back to her book as the rest continued to eat in silence.

The rest of the day passed normally, the Slytherin's were their normal pleasant selves, and Ron yet again spent lunch moaning about how much of a git Dean was, but that was only because the two, Dean and Ginny that is, were snogging throughout the whole of the lunch hour. Either way, it wasn't really very fair to base your opinion of a guy on the fact that he's snogging your sister, because that guy could actually be pretty decent.

The rest of the day soon passed; eventually, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Ron were outside Filch's office, waiting for their detention task to be set. "Yes precious … Darn kids … Real punishment … Dungeons." The students looked at each other half smirking and half worried … He was in a worse mood than normal today. "Hah! There you are, today you'll be washing the staircases in the castle, the boys will do the upper half, and the girls the lower, you can't use you wands, and when you're done you will get me and I will check you've done the job to my satisfaction. If you do use your wands, you will also have to clean the owlery, with a toothbrush," Filch smiled cruelly, "enjoy." He passed them two buckets and four sponges, "you'll find you can collect water in the bathrooms, and you'll be able to go when all of the staircases have been cleaned, no breaks allowed." The caretaker walked away.

"Great, that's all we need," Harry moaned. He put two of the sponges in a bucket and then lifted it up. "Well, I guess we'll see you girls later," he winked at Ginny, and the two boys started to climb the stairs.

After having gotten some hot soapy water from the bathroom, Hermione and Ginny started cleaning the stairs. "Hey, Ginny, what's going on with you and Harry?" Ginny accidentally dropped her sponge, pushed a piece of hair out of the way behind her ear, and then picked up the sponge again, getting back to the cleaning. "Nothing, why?"

"Well, just the way that he winked at you, and then you blushed, I know you think no-one else saw, but I did," Ginny scrubbed harder at the stone step below her.

"Mione, Harry does that to everyone, nothing's going on. Besides, Dean and I are going steady, brilliantly in fact."

"That's great," Hermione eyes her friend suspiciously.

"Damn Filch, he would give us the crappiest job ever," Ron threw a sopping sponge on the stair, "think about it mate, at least we didn't get the owlery, not yet anyway." Harry threw a sponge at Ron. "Hey!"

"What?" Harry asked, indignant.

"Honestly Harry, we're supposed to be working, take it seriously," Harry rolled his eyes and turned around just as Ron threw a soapy yellow object at his head.

"Ugh, if Filch isn't careful then we're going to be here way after the time we're supposed to be in bed."

"Hah! I bet he'd be happy about that, then we could have another detention and the owlery would be clean."

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" Ginny cried, furiously scrubbing at the cold stone she's sitting on.

"What?"

"Some idiot's managed to get a half melted sugar quill embedded in the freaking stone," Hermione moved over to Ginny, helping her scrub at the stubborn step. "This is not going to come out," Ginny moaned. "Shhh," Hermione grasped her wand through her robes and quickly muttered an incantation; glancing around she got back to the scrubbing. "Why don't you just do that to the rest of the bloody things?" Ginny raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"That would be way too obvious, even Filch would recognise it."

"Oh come on Harry, please, Filch will never notice, we can give Peeves some dung bombs and keep an eye on the both of them with the map, he'll never know," Ron leaned against one of the railings, "yes, but Ron, if Peeves gets the stairs dirty then a, we'll have an angry Hermione and furious Ginny on our hands if he gets the dirt on their section, and b, we'll have to redo the stairs anyway." Ron deliberated on this for a while, and then,

"What if we make a deal with Peeves, we could add in some of the famous Weasley fireworks for his own personal use. Then if we do see Filch coming toward the stairs on the map, we can cast a glamour charm over them and kneel down with the sponges in hand so it'll look like we're still cleaning."

"There is the issue of getting here so quickly," Harry says, thinking for a moment. "I suppose we could use the firebolt and hide it in a secret passage," the two boys looked at each other. "I think we have a plan."

"Thank the good wizard for this," Ginny sighed, carrying the bucket up a staircase – they'd finally reached the one with the missing stair, which meant that they were close to finishing. Despite this happiness though, the mood overall was sombre. They were cold and wet (from falling over with dirty buckets of water), had dirt on their faces (from touching their faces), and had all manners of substances caught up in their hair. _What a delight. _Hermione knelt down a step… Only to find her knees pass through it. "GINNY!" Red hair whipped around, not seeing her friends predicament due to being on a higher level. "THE STEP, THE MISSING ONE!" Hermione felt her knees sink further.

"Oh right, okay," Ginny walked down to Hermione, put her arms under the brown-haired girls armpits, and pulled. "Why does the step give so much resistance?" Ginny cried. "Okay, three… Two… One… Now!" Hermione was lifted out of the step, and was holding onto Ginny who was leaning backwards to keep her balance in the struggle against momentum – "Mione LET GO!" Ginny slapped at her friends hands that were holding onto her jacket. "You're going to make me fall over!"

"WELL I WILL IF I LET GO!" Hermione screamed, she stepped back down onto the missing stair, and fell.

"HERMIONE!" Ginny screamed, trying to make her way down so she could catch her friend. Arms closed around the petit girl, catching her and putting her feet back on the ground. Hermione clutched the arms, catching her breath and calming her body, breathing slowly in and out, stopping the shaking which had consumed her body. Suddenly, the arms weren't there anymore; she turned around. Pale skin. Eyes changing with his unreadable moods - _Malfoy. _"Umm, thanks." He turned, heading back down the staircase, towards the dungeons.

"Potter, Weasley, what do you think you're doing?" The two boys froze, wands in hand. _Damn._ They'd just been arguing about who should cast the cleaning charm over the stairs, when Filch had found them. "Now what did I say about wands?" The two boys glanced at each other, knowing they were going to be in deep shit. Literally. "Can't remember? Well let me refresh your memory. I said that if you use your wands then you would have to clean the owlery with a toothbrush. Come on, I shall lead you to your next destination right now considering that the two of you have ever so kindly cleaned all of the stairs in your given section to magical perfection." They kept their groan hidden within; knowing their luck if they did groan then Filch would punish them for that too.

"I mean that's so unusual for him, and then there was the whole thing when I made you even more beautiful than normal and he thought that you were hot and then when he found out who you were he suddenly covered up." Ginny paused for a moment cleaning the last section of the stairs they had been assigned, Hermione by her side. "He didn't even say 'watch where you're going, stupid mudblood'. Don't you find that really weird? I thought with everything getting worse and Voldemort gathering more followers he would've been flaunting his pureblood racism even more, but maybe not. Maybe he's realised how serious everything has gotten. Perhaps he's even hoping that if he's extra nice to you then you'll offer him protection. But that doesn't make any sense. And where was he going? He was originally going up the stairs but when he saw us he went back down. Is he hiding something?" Hermione sighed, "Honestly Ginny, you're starting to get worse than Harry." Ginny gasped, "Maybe he likes you, you know, likes you likes you." Hermione groaned.


End file.
